Date of Award
1984
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
This study investigated the effectiveness of the time-limited family counseling model, Troubled families, A treatment program, with a waiting list control for reducing the occurrence of aggressive and disruptive behavior in second through sixthe grade boys. Incoming families to the Family Counseling Project at Indiana State University were randomly assigned to either the social learning treatment condition or to the waiting list control condition. Each of the forty-three families agreeing to participate in the study were scheduled for pre-assessment and screening. The dependent variables investigated included three measures of the target child's behavior as perceived by parents: the Parents Daily Report, negaive behavior score (Patterson, Reid, Jones & Conger, 1975); the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, aggression subscale (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983); and the Family Environment Scale, conflict subscale (Moos, 1974). An additional dependent variable investigated the target child's behavior as perceived by his classroom teacher and measured by the Daily Behavior Checklist (Prinz, Connor & Wilson, 1981). Once treatment or the waiting list period was completed, parents and teachers supplied post-assessment information on the above-mentioned instruments. Of the families randomly assigned, twenty completed treatment while seventeen completed the waiting list period. The four dependent variables were analyzed by a one-way analysis of variance on gain scores from pre to post. The first three hypotheses, based on parents' perceptions, stating no significant difference between the treatment process and the waiting list control were rejected (p < .05). No significant differences on the Daily Behavior Checklist were reported by teachers (p > .05) relating to the fourth dependent variable. Although the ANOVA was not statistically significant, a 48% reduction of aggressive behavior for the treatment boys was noted, compared to an 18% reduction for the control boys. The researcher concludes that Troubled families, A treatment program is indeed a very effective family therapy process for reducing the occurrence of aggressive behavior in boys. The researcher urges future implementations of this program to include direct and specific classroom interventions. It is anticipated that once specific classroom behaviors are targeted, they too will evidence statistically significant reductions.
Recommended Citation
Walker, John M., "A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Social Learning Family Therapy For Reducing Aggressive Behavior In Boys" (1984). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 752.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/752